Painting on Canvas Effect

Created by: Fred Kampes

This tutorial will teach you how to make your images appear as if they have been painted on canvas or linen, using a fine linen Pattern and the Flood Fill tool. The tutorial teaches you how to "Multiply" your original picture, and add a texture layer underneath it for the linen texture to appear. You may experiment with all different patterns and textures for different effects.

The steps below show how to perform each task using the PSP menu options. Alternatively, you may wish to use the keyboard shortcuts for some of the tasks - these are displayed in small text - surrounded by [square brackets].

Download file

This tutorial requires you to use a picture you wish to place on canvas and a fine linen texture as a pattern.

To download the picture we have used and the fine linen texture image:
1. Click on the Download file link to the left.
2. After downloading these files - unzip them,
     extracting the "finelinen.bmp" file into your
     PSP | Patterns or Textures directory, and the
     "/tutorial/html/tut7eff/moonlit.jpg" image into your normal images
     directory.
3. Open the "/tutorial/html/tut7eff/moonlit.jpg" and "finelinen.bmp" files
     to your workspace.

Download the files we've used in this tutorial

To ensure that you don't lose the original images - save them as new psp files.

To save the two images as psp files:
1. Click on the original "/tutorial/html/tut7eff/moonlit.jpg" image.
2. Click on the File | Save As menu option,
     and save the new file into your current images
     directory as "moonlit2.psp" [F12].
3. Click on the original "finelinen.bmp" image.
4. Click on the File | Save As menu option, and
     save the new file into your current images
     directory as "finelinen2.psp" [F12].
5. Click on the "moonlit2.psp" image (to make it
     the active image).

The Promote Layer & Edit Properties layer palette dialog box.

Before you add the linen effect, you need to adjust
the Layer Palette by promoting the background layer,
and changing its blend mode.

To promote the background layer:
1. In the Layer Palette, double click on the
     Background layer to promote it. The system
     displays the "Promote Layer and Edit
     "Properties" dialog box.
2. In the Name field, rename this layer "TOP".
3. Click on the down arrow next to the Blend Mode
     field, and - from the drop-down list of blend modes -
     select the Multiply option.
4. Leave all other settings in this dialog box as they
     are, then click on the OK button to accept
     the chosen settings.

Now you need to add the layer for your texture,
then move it underneath the TOP layer.

To create the texture layer:
1. In the Layer Palette, click on the Create Layer icon.
     The system displays the "Layer Properties"
     dialog box for the new layer.
2. Name the new layer "LINEN" then click on the
     OK button to accept the settings.
3. Click on the Layers | Arrange | Send to Bottom
     menu option.
4. Your Layer Palette should now look like that shown
     on the left.
5. Click on the LINEN layer to make it the active layer.
6. This would also be a good time to save your
     image, renaming it "moonlit3.psp" [F12].

Next you will add the texture to your LINEN layer.
Before flood filling, you need to change the Colour/Styles/Texture box settings to include your linen texture.

To adjust the Colour/Style/Textures Palette settings:
1. Click on the Color Palette box and change
     the Foreground Colour to mid-grey - I
     used #404040.
2. Click on the Style Palette, and change your
     Foreground Style to Solid, and the Background
     Style to Null.
3. Click on the right-arrow in the Foreground Texture
     box. The system displays the "Texture" dialog box.
4. Click on the down-arrow beside the displayed
     texture, and from the listing of textures - select the
     "finelinen" texture.
5. After selecting the required texture, click on
     the OK button to accept the setting.
6. Change your Background Texture box to Null (if
     required). Your Colours/Styles/Textures Palette
     should now look like that displayed on the left.

Tip:
If you are having problems locating the "Fine Linen" texture, check that you have set up the file preferences correctly.

To check the Textures file preferences:
1. Click on the File | Preferences | File Locations ...
     menu option. The system displays the "File
     Locations" dialog box.
2. Click on the "Textures" tab.
3. Look at the three file location settings for textures,
     and ensure that the first path listed is set to
     PSP7 \ Textures sub-folder, and that the
     "Enable this Path" and "Use sub-folders"
     checkboxes are ticked.

Image BEFORE adjusting the Linen layer's opacity.

Finally you are going to flood fill the LINEN layer with your selected texture, then adjust the layer opacity to your liking.

To flood fill the LINEN layer:
1. Click on the Flood Fill tool and check that the Tool
     Options are standard (Blend Mode = Normal,
     Match Mode = RGB, Tolerance = 200,
     Opacity = 100, Sample Merged checkbox
     = Unchecked).
2. Click once on your LINEN layer. The image should
     look like the top image shown on the left.

     Now you need to change the LINEN layer's opacity,
     so that it doesn't dominate your original image.

To adjust the LINEN layer opacity:
1. In the Layer Palette, click on the LINEN layer's
     Opacity slider, and slide it to the left, so that your
     layer's opacity is around 55% (or to your liking if
     you think the linen look dominates the image too
     much).

Your image should look like that displayed on the left.

This is the end of the tutorial.